A Song for Peace
by Jinxybub
Summary: Ellie and Joel are back at Jackson City after the long adventure of trying to find a cure. Joel is struggling but accepting the new way of living in 'normality'. Ellie on the other hand feels slightly empty. They both bring their love for a song together, whilst Joel is learning Ellie how to play guitar.


"…No, bar chords are too difficult." Joel stood up from the patio bench.

"I'm sure I can handle it Joel, you even said yourself that I'm getting the hand of this pretty quick." Ellie sighed in annoyance. Joel stretched and walked toward the patio fence, leaning his arms atop the fence he lifted his face toward the sun. Never did he think he would hear the melody of strummed guitar strings again. Even though it was Ellie's untrained fingers playing the music, the sound of normality sprung from the strings.

It was Tommy who gave Joel the guitar, said he'd found it whilst on a supply hunt. He knew Joel was pretty good at playing it, and his voice wasn't so bad either, although Joel didn't know Tommy had sneaked in one time on Joel singing. Back before the outbreak. The guitar weren't at its best, the strings were questionable but they hadn't seemed to have done any harm up to now, except to Ellie's fingertips. Luckily Joel could tune guitars by ear, otherwise it would have been done for.

Joel wiped a hand down his face and breathed in the cool air, the sun was slowly sinking into the hills on the horizon and the fireflies were dancing by the trees. The glow of the flies had brought back fond memories, ones of peace. He shook his head slowly in disbelief, thinking back to the time he was losing blood uncontrollably, and almost lost his life to it. His heart started racing and he quickly shifted his gaze behind him toward Ellie, who was still plucking away at the guitar. He had that little girl to thank, for allowing him to be stood here with her today. Just to be able to know that you were even slightly safe in this world, to even have that glimmer of hope creeping around your heart was too much for Joel to comprehend, it didn't feel real. Having parts of normality back in his life Joel felt as if he were treading in someone else's shoes. He was living in a strange house that wasn't left willingly by its owners. He felt he were tip toeing around their house, and he needed to make it his own. As he was constantly reminded by Tommy that it was now his and to make it into a place that he and Ellie could call a home.

As Joel was pondering, Ellie tried to practice a song Joel had just taught her. She knew the song well, and so did Joel, so he thought it was a good place to start.

He remembered the conversation they had, when she had mentioned the song.

 _"_ _How on earth do you know that song? It's way before your time."_

 _"_ _Ever heard of a Walkman?"_

 _"_ _The broken one?" Joel grinned to himself as Ellie rolled her eyes at him._

"Alright." Joel sighed as he backed up from the fence, taking a last glance of the sunset before turning towards the front door. "I'm gonna head inside, you comin'?" He looked over to Ellie who was sat on the swing seat, the guitar she was holding looked too big in her arms.

"Nah, I'm gonna practice some more."

"Alright then." Joel smiled to himself and headed for the kitchen. He was still getting used to living in Jackson City, although the grounds were heavily guarded he always slept with one eye open.

The house was in good shape considering the circumstances they were in, Tommy had fixed the houses up and kept this one especially for Joel. Although Tommy didn't expect Joel to turn up with Ellie, there were plenty of rooms to call their own. Most of the floor was wooden, except the bathroom that had tile and bedrooms which were fitted with darkened cream carpet. The living room had a large red rug in the middle, an expensive one in the old world. There was a plasma TV, occasionally they would watch shows together, that was a luxury Ellie enjoyed the most, although there wasn't always a reliable power for the televisions. That just made it more special Ellie had told Joel when he commented on not relying on the power source. Joel walked over and ran his hand along the faded wall, where it seemed a picture frame once hung.

"Maybe I should get some decorations." Joel muttered to himself as he looked around the kitchen and into the living room. There was an archway into the living room from the kitchen, Joel preferred the rooms to be open planned, as it let in the most light. He quickly shook away the image of his old home that flashed briefly through his mind.

Ellie had told Joel to get some decorations plenty of times before, though he disagreed with her, stating something bad will most likely happen soon enough, this sort of luck doesn't last forever and they'd have to quickly leave. Ellie was more optimistic than Joel, she and Tommy shared the same trait, although some of Joel's pessimistic views were rubbing off on her. Joel rubbed his scarred stomach and as if on cue, felt a rumble coming from within.

As Joel was searching through the cupboard for an evening snack, a sweet melody flowed into the kitchen. Joel stopped what he was doing and focused his hearing on the sound. He was amazed to hear Ellie's soft, quiet voice. He quietly made his way through the living room and toward the front door, trying not to creak on the old wooden floor. As he edged closer her voice was becoming more audible, she was trying to sing under her breath to keep Joel from hearing. She had to stop every so often as she realised it was difficult to strum and sing at the same time. Joel plucked up the courage and walked towards Ellie, as soon as Joel walked out she quickly stopped playing and squirmed under his gaze.

"I- I was just-"

"Let me play." Joel slowly took the guitar from Ellie's grip, and sat on the bench opposite her, with his back toward the houses opposite theirs. He began to play the song Ellie was singing from the beginning, the one he had been teaching her for weeks. He had done three intros before he looked up at Ellie and nodded in reassurance. She was wringing her hands together and looked uncomfortably nervous. Joel smiled at her and began the first line, his gruff voice carrying, strangely comforting, over the music. Ellie's eyes widened and her smile beamed brighter than a thousand suns. She noticed Joel was looking at her to start singing, so she did. Their voices harmonized with the guitar. Joel stopped singing almost soon after Ellie had begun, he only sang to encourage her to do so, and it worked. Thankfully Ellie hadn't noticed the absence of Joel's voice, and she sung on whilst gazing out down the quiet street and at the street lights that were lazily flickering on. The song brought back memories of Riley, how they had listened to this song together on repeat, with one earphone each.

Once Ellie came to the last line, she looked over at Joel and spoke the lyrics.

"And God, I know I'm one." Joel strummed the last chord and rested the guitar flat on his lap. He glanced over to where Ellie had been looking and set the guitar on the bench next to him. He was amazed and strangely comforted by Ellie's voice, she sure can sing. The lack of the guitar seemed to fill the air with silence, but they didn't mind. Instead there was a sense of accomplishment and comfort, the feeling of deep trust.

Although it was just Ellie and Joel singing together, the meaning was so much deeper for them. They had reached a milestone in their lives, which made them feel completely at ease with each other. Being a part of Jackson City truly helps their sense of freedom. Though Joel felt this completely, there was still something missing in Ellie's heart. Although Joel tells her almost every day how crazy it is to even be close to being back to normal, Ellie doesn't know what his 'normal' is. She feels as if Joel forgets that she was born after the outbreak, the awful life carved out for humanity was what Ellie was born into. Her 'normal' was completely different to Joel's.

And he had lied to her.

Ellie felt he did this to make her feel less guilty for the deaths she had witnessed, if there were more survivors her survivor's guilt would be lessened. But how could he lie like that, to her face? So easily. Ellie sighed and rubbed at her forearm, where she was bitten.

Joel gets up from the bench and walks over to Ellie, he runs his hand over the top of her head.

"Let's go eat." He walks into the house. Ellie stares at the quiet scenery for a moment and breathes in the fresh air, before following Joel into the house.


End file.
